Free Dragon Trials (Return of the Darkening Book 1) by Ava Richardson

before the next blow rattled my staff. I had no time for anything but defensive moves, and barely those.
    A painful slap of the staff across my bleeding shin, caused me to fall to the ground. I rolled and bounced back to my feet, stick still in hand before the watching Dragon Rider could call a win for Beris. I hopped up and down on one foot for a second, panting before gingerly putting my foot down again.
    He’d hit my wound on purpose, I knew. He gave a narrow-eyed look that said as much.
    Beris shrugged. “What you gonna do about it?” He laughed, and I charged.
    It wasn’t a graceful attack, more of an outright assault, but he wasn’t expecting it. I was hot-faced angry and tired of always being quiet and backing down from him. Maybe that came from being raised to think all nobles were better than me, but I was done with that.
    I wasn’t going to let him win.
    I swung my staff and pivoted it in the palm of my hand. He parried and blocked me each time, but I was driving him further and further back. It was easy for him to block my blows, but that was my intention. I was setting him up, and he was arrogant enough to think I had no strategy working.
    “Beris out. Win to Sebastian.” The Dragon Rider called and clapped his hands.
    “What?” Beris suddenly stopped. He stared at the Dragon Rider, his face red and his mouth hanging open.
    The Dragon Rider pointed down at our feet to where I had successfully forced Beris out of the chalk circle. Beris had been so confident he was better than me that he had forgotten the rules of the duel.
    “That’s not fair,” Beris said. “He never even scored a hit on me!”
    “Stop whining, Beris, you got to the second stage, which is better than most.” The Dragon Rider nodded to me. I had time enough to watch Thea win her bout against Syl, and Jensen won his against Wil.
    Beris was scowling at me as he stalked away. The chalk was redrawn. There were three contenders left, meaning two fights. I waited for the judges to call out names, and heard with dismay that I would be dueling against Thea. Jensen would fight whoever won.
    “Sorry,” I said to Thea and stepped into the ring.
    “Don’t be. You’re going to lose.” She gave me a tiny smile. I had to smile back. That attitude let me know she would be okay if I won or lost. I could relax and just do my best.
    With a clap from the watching Dragon Rider, we started. Thea performed like I had never seen before. She didn’t bother to hold the quarterstaff across her body like the rest of us, instead she twirled it over her head like a windmill before bringing it down as she spun her body across the circle with a graceful leap.
    I dodged the first blow only to realize the move had only been a trick. She switched her grip lightning fast and sent a rapid blister of blows against me, landing a hit on my hip and then on my head.
    I tried to raise my staff to defend myself, but she had done something strange with her own staff which forced mine out of my hands. Another blow from nowhere to the back of my knees sent me to the floor, weaponless.
    “Yield?” she said, standing over me.
    I moaned an answer and bowed over in pain.
    “Sebastian out. Win to Thea!” The Dragon Rider clapped to end the match. Others had gathered to watch and were clapping for Thea. I was glad for her. She had worked really hard to get this good.
    I limped out of the fighting circle, and the last fight between Jensen and Thea was being prepared. Sipping a cup of mountain water, I again watched the way Thea spun her stick faster than a dragon’s tail could spin, diving the staff around her body as if it was part of her. It was almost like she was dancing, lashing out with blows faster than anything we could manage.
    But Jensen was good. He didn’t twirl his staff, but used it almost like a spear, one end stabbing, sweeping and making a wide space around him. It was hard for Thea to get past his attacks. He scored the first hit on her shins.
    After